Bolt Computer Services

I had a few things in my past review that I thought Peter could improve, regarding punctuality and reliability. I don´t take a CC as something bad, but a way to improve, and I believe Peter is the same way.
After my brand-​new-​thousand-​dollars laptop «Toshiba 4k PT55» (being over detailed so if you´re out there looking for a laptop… avoid this brand, guys… please do!) simply toasted five weeks after the purchase and with an entire photo session in my HD, I took it to Peter.
He not only was extremely fast and responsive, but also flawlessly recovered my data, and was honest enough to tell me that there was no way to fix my laptop and that I should return it to the seller.
Later, I was having issues to have my money refunded and had to open a dispute on PayPal. The process is just overwhelming, tedious and full of requirements. Embarrassingly, I had to call Peter a dozen times, who patiently answered to all my document requirements.
I strongly believe I wouldn´t have been successful neither on recovering my date, nor my money back if it wasn´t for Peter´s help.

Short story is that no one at Bolt will take ownership of any issues, and if you want something done quickly and correctly by a company that stands by their work, you need to look elsewhere.*
-
I returned from vacation to find that my computer had committed suicide. I telecommute and hadn’t backed up my files in a while (LESSON LEARNED!), so finding this out the Monday morning I was to return to work sucked.
I went to Bolt mostly because they were the closest repair who picked up the phone. Peter saw me right away and on starting up my computer, confirmed that my hard drive was failing. He assured me that he’d been recovering data since he was like, 12 or something, and he understood the urgency and would call to update.
A few hours later he said he wasn’t able to make any progress and that if I needed the data on my drive, he recommended sending it off to Drive Savers, which «usually runs in the ballpark of $ 1,000». I had no choice since I stupidly hadn’t backed up, so I agreed. He said he’d overnight the drive that day, then I’d need to agree to the estimate, they’d turn it around in 1 – 3 days, overnight the data back, and then Bolt would install a new drive w/​Windows, restore all my files etc., with the goal being to return my computer «as if nothing had happened».
At this point, I thought I was in good hands, though it was confirmed to my dismay that I was looking at about a week for turnaround. Peter assured that I would receive regular updates.
With the given timeline, I expected to hear about the quote sometime on Wednesday. Thursday rolled around and still no call. I checked in with Bolt to hear that the package hadn’t gone out until Wednesday and so Drive Savers would only be receiving it that day. Friday afternoon I still hadn’t gotten a call from anyone so I checked in with Sarah at Bolt who basically said that she personally didn’t know anything but she’d tell Peter I called (thanks?)
Monday was Labor Day and so on Tuesday I again called looking for an update, as we were now at the point that I was expecting to get my computer back and I hadn’t even gotten a quote on the data restore. Sarah eventually got back to me on Wednesday, and said Peter wanted to «resend» something from Drive Savers — an email with the estimate which was sent to her that last Friday at 2pm which had NOT previously been sent to me. The email from DS actually said they needed to hear back from me by Wednesday «to avoid termination of the procedure».
When I asked her what happened between Friday and Wednesday, she said, «I’m not gonna lie: the weekend happened.» (?!)
When I asked her why no one got in touch with me, she said «That’s on Peter, that’s totally on him.»
When I asked Peter what happened, he just said sorry.
The quote from Drive Savers was for about $ 3,000 for the 1 – 2 day option. I had to go with the super economy option which was ~3 weeks turnaround and less than half the price. DS also said that Peter should have set the expectation more realistically by clarifying that the range of fees is between $ 900-​$ 3000, which hardly makes $ 1000 the average.
I was pretty pissed about the 10 days that passed between the promise of overnighting my drive for an estimate and actually receiving the estimate and Peter just apologized repeating that he started his company in his basement and stands by his work and wants to be professional and blah blah blah.
After all that, he still charged me the full rate, AND his hourly rate went up in the month or so the whole thing took start to finish, plus he forgot to mention the installation fee for the drive and Windows so that on top of the terrible service, his quote on his own fee was off by $ 70.
When I came to pick it up, both Peter and Sarah had left early, likely to avoid having to pretend to apologize in person. The other tech was very professional.
When I got home, I found that my network speed (usually around 90mbps) was sitting at an unusable 1mbps. The keys on the right side of my laptop are sticking which to me feels like someone wasn’t careful when installing the new drive. I emailed back and forth with Peter a few times about these issues and while he did start off by offering to come by and reinstall a driver, I did that myself to no avail and he stopped responding, having never touched the issue of the keyboard.
Fortunately a friend fixed my network issues but my keyboard is still fakakta and some drivers were missing.
2 stars for eventually installing a HD, Windows and Office.
BONUS!
When I picked up my computer, the front door was wide open, with a clear view of the completed jobs ready for pickup (laptops etc) sitting unattended on a shelf and no one at the desk.
*TL;DR:
Urgent problem promised at a week, sat for 10 days, flaky staff DGAF.

Picked up my cable today. The guy I spoke with originally apologized again and gave me a $ 20. He then told me how they were looking to upgrade with some client management software as they get more popular. So I probably won’t go back still but they are trying to make things better.

Nice staff and got the job done quickly and on demand. Price seemed reasonable, I suppose, but considering their service, it was worth it. Highly recommend!

Peter and his team are great. I’ve always gotten responsive service and they have resolved my issue on the first try.
Thanks Bolt!

Peter really knows his stuff! In this day and age it is hard to find a good, honest, small business owner.
The pricing is very fair and the turnaround is reasonable. It’s located right off the MAX downtown at the Galleria/​Library stops.
Go to Bolt Computer Services if you want your repair done right the first time. They will fix things that you didn’t even know could be fixed!

Called and got an appointment right away which I really appreciated. Fast, friendly service. Because it was very simple and took five minutes they helped me free of charge!

Really great service! I came in today with a broken screen and a serious time crunch with finals due next week. Peter helped me right then and there. I highly recommend this place as they take great pride in their work and they do it at a very reasonable price. I will definitely come back if I have a problem with my computer.

Great Service, Best Value and Unparalleled Expertise! I have worked with Bolt Computer Services for many years and they have always been able to help within budget. I highly recommend Bolt Computer Services to anyone.

I can’t praise this place enough! Peter worked wonders on my liquid-​damaged MacBook Pro. After getting a $ 700+ quote from the Apple Store (no thanks), he was able to tear it open, clean it up and get it running all in an afternoon.
Now… I don’t want to go and over promise what Bolt is capable of. I got lucky as far as the level of damage the liquid caused, and Peter happened to be able to start working on it right away. But still, this is one of the most pleasant computer repair experiences I’ve ever had.

Bolt is a fantastic company I discovered off Google. My Dell computer dropped off my bed which completely broke my computer screen, so I called them up the next day, and Mike Farrin said I could come right then. Plus, they even have Student discounts. He knew what he was doing and fixed it quickly. I plan on using Bolt for all my computer needs from now on. I’d recommend Bolt to anyone.

My saga begun with a fateful trip I took to Chicago to visit my best friend. I took my beloved laptop with me, unable to unchain myself from its comforting presence. However, when I arrived at the airport, I found the airline (that will go unnamed) had left my checked luggage in the rain. The luggage with my beloved computer inside. I rushed to the nearest bucket seat and removed my laptop. It was dripping wet, and as I opened it up, the screen flickered and promptly died. I’ve experienced the end of teenage love, survived break ups of serious relationships, watched my pets passing, but I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a feeling quite like the sinking of my heart as my laptop died before my eyes.
When I got back to Portland, I wanted to see if I could salvage my beloved friend. I had biked past Bolt Computer Services many times and decided to try them out. Inside, I was greeted by Peter, who kindly told me to sit and tell him my dismal tale while he did a free diagnostic check. As I spoke with him, he was professional, sympathetic, and friendly. I watched him try several methods to see if he could, like Dr. Frankenstein, bring my computer back from the dead. All the while, he explained what his methods to me as he went about them, which I really appreciated. I feel like it’s common to go to computer places and have their process shrouded in mystery for folks like me who don’t necessarily understand what is being done to their much loved machines. But with Peter, I didn’t feel that way. He guided me through what he was doing.
Ultimately, my computer could not be saved. However, he told me, he would be able to save my hard drive and all of my data. Hallelujah! All of my pictures, documents, unmentionable data could be mine again! He gave me a very reasonable quote for removing the hard drive, placing in this super cool case converting it to an external hard drive, and the cost of his labor. Overall, it was an incredibly affordable and painless process.
He even went above and beyond when I asked him if he would put together a quote for me, so I could show the airline how much my computer cost not only in dollars but in my emotional duress. Peter was able to evaluate how much the computer cost and write out an estimate for me to pass along to the airline, but didn’t factor in my pain and suffering. That’s okay. I don’t mind keeping that to myself.
Overall, I would highly recommend Bolt Computer Services to anyone and everyone. Affordable, kind, sympathetic, friendly dudes who know how to get the job done and don’t make you feel like a doofus if you know nothing about the way computers work.

I went to Bolt to replace my hard drive and not only did the go out of their way to educate me about options and how to prevent future problems, they also upgraded my hard drive free of charge to make up for a small delay. Highly recommended.

Hands down Bolt Computer Services is the most attentive, professional and reliable place to go when you are having computer issues of any sort. Keep up the good work guys! Thanks again!

I have used Bolt on a number of occasions to set up our network, make some repairs and fix problems. Today I had them build a Linux Router and it was done in an hour and up and running shortly after. It is perfect!

Great service, friendly, customer oriented. They explained the problem, showed me how to protect my computer against virsus. They updated my system for a low price and gave me a loaner computer! !! Best prices im town. Idk even know why geek squad still in service.

I just had another good experience with Bolt. I had used them in the past for tech support, and they seem to always do a good job. I referred someone to them for laptop repair and they got the job done. And then over the weekend I had an email issue and a failed hard drive issue. Bolt Computer Services got it fixed for me and I am very happy now. Thanks

I went to Peter last year and he was fantastic… more useful than a typical doctor and he went beyond fixing my problem.
This time around, he has gone into hiding or something — doesn’t answer the phone, doesn’t answer my 4 voice messages, doesn’t answer my knocks on the door. He was suppose to call me the afternoon I left my machine to give me an update and cost… it’s been 3.5 days of no communication… period.
Is the Mafia after him??? Do I need to kick the door down to retrieve my computer? I’m thinking about callling the landlord.

I will never bring anything that needs to be fixed to Bolt again. Without a doubt, they were simply the worst at customer service, but also technical service. I brought several computers in to be fixed, but «Pete» not only made the situation worse, he actually made me feel bad about having to bring the computer in at all! I don’t know how these guys get any business at all, but suffice it to say, they’re lucky I don’t pursue legal action for exasperating the problem.
Also: I took the computers to a friend of mine and he fixed them — for free, and within minutes.
Thanks, but no thanks Bolt.

I’m writing a letter to the Pope because what Peter did to save my computer would qualify for canonization into sainthood. It was nothing short of miraculous. He’s the Padre Pio of computers.
Bolt saved my data from a computer that I dropped on the ground (because I’m an irresponsible person).
He also transferred all the data and programs to my new laptop so my life and business didn’t skip a beat. And since I was headed out of town on business on Monday and he did it all on Sunday at a moment’s notice!
My business relies on computers and internet… if your’s does too then you need to use Bolt.